I need to know who owns the Yankees’ lineup card, the scheduled days off calendar and the bullpen decisions. Like Reggie Dunlop badgering Joe McGrath to find out who owns the Chiefs in Slap Shot in order to save the franchise, I’m trying to save the Yankees’ season, the first season in their current window of opportunity to win a championship.

It was bad enough Brett Gardner was batting leadoff every game for nearly the first month of the season, while DJ LeMahieu was clearly the right choice at the top of the order. It got worse when Gardner batted third and then fourth in consecutive games in Tampa in the middle of May with first place on the line. On Wednesday night, Gardner was in the lineup, batting ahead of Gio Urshela, who has been one of the Yankees’ Top 3 or 4 hitters this season. The injuries to Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge have forced Gardner into the lineup more than the Yankees planned on him being as a 35-year-old coming off the worst season of his career. I get that he has to be in the lineup with Stanton and Judge still out, but he doesn’t have to bat in the lineup where he has been or continues to be. I understand it’s unfair to overly criticize Gardner since he didn’t offer himself a one-year, $7.5 million contract the second free agency started, and he isn’t the one filling out the lineup card. But I need to know who is.

The problem with the Yankees lineup doesn’t end there, it only gets more puzzling and frustrating. The Blue Jays didn’t want Kendrys Morales and the A’s didn’t want him either, so the Yankees took a flyer on him with their team decimated by injuries, searching for any sort of left-handed power they could. After his mammoth home run in his second game as a Yankee, which almost reached the upper deck at Yankee Stadium, it seemed like maybe the Yankees were hitting on yet another veteran player on his way out of the league, who was getting a second life after putting on the pinstripes. However, that was the last and only extra-base hit Morales has produced as a Yankee, batting .167/.322/.229 in 59 plate appearances. As a bat-only player, his bat is now gone, though that hasn’t stopped the “manager” of the Yankees from batting him no lower than sixth in any of his starts, and as high as fourth, which he batted on May 22 and 23 and again on Wednesday night in Toronto.

The lineup issue hasn’t been just about Gardner and Morales and it hasn’t only been a thing of late. It’s been a thing all season and it was a thing last season too, especially when Gleyber Torres continued to bat ninth, even batting behind Masahiro Tanaka in interleague play, while carrying the Yankees offensively for weeks at a time. If you’re reading this and you’re a left-handed hitter, if you were to play for the Yankees tonight, you would most likely bat third, fourth or fifth. Your actual talent and abilities don’t matter, just what hand you bat with. The Yankees desperately believe in dividing up the right-handed hitters in their lineup and will put weaker bats at the top and middle of the lineup in order to do so. It’s why Gardner and Morales have batted high in the order in important games and series, and why Mike Tauchman did as well earlier in the season. It’s why Aaron Hicks was immediately inserted into the 2-, 3- and 4-holes upon his return, even though he lacked a significant amount of rehab games and was seeing major league pitching in the middle of the season. It’s why the Yankees will force Didi Gregorius back into the lineup in the same way, likely pushing down Luke Voit and Gary Sanchez in the process. 

On Tuesday night, Hicks was given the night off. This after the Yankees had a scheduled day off on Monday and were rained out last Thursday. Between Hicks’s return on May 15 and last night was a period of 22 days. In that time he started 15 games, which means in the last three weeks plus one day, he had an entire week off. Not to mention he had all of March and April and half of May off as well after his unfortunate and odd back injury. Hicks looked lost at the plate in his first 15 games back, batting .204/.302/.259, but that didn’t stop the owner of the lineup card from batting him leadoff (one games), second (four games), third (seven games) and fourth (three games) only. On Tuesday night, Hicks finally looked like the player deserving of a seven-year, $70 million extension, finally looking comfortable at the plate as he went 2-for-4 with a double, home run and walk. He was rewarded by not being in the lineup the next night. He wasn’t even given a full night off as he was brought in as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning, even though there’s no defense for the home runs Zack Britton and Luis Cessa gave up to lose the game. So Hicks was able to play on Wednesday, just not the first seven-plus innings and just not enough to have an impact on the game.

So who owns the Yankees’ lineup card? Aaron Boone has sternly said in the past, the lineup card is his, and you can sort of sense it in his voice that it’s really the only thing he has control over. If I were him, it’s the only thing I would admit to being responsible for. If I were him and I had control over the bullpen and made the decisions he has as Yankees manager, I would pretend I was being told which relievers to bring in as well. But it’s hard to know if Boone really, truly owns the lineup card. If he does own it then there’s a huge problem and he needs to have the responsibility taken away. I have joked in the past that since Brian Cashman is so good at trades and so bad at free agency, the Yankees should have Cashman conduct the trades and have a second general manager handle free agency, the way some NFL teams have a kicker for kickoffs and another for field goals. I think the Yankees need to follow this setup for their manager as well. Boone can be the clubhouse manager since he was hired for his personality and ability to communicate with the players. He can be the one who jokes in the room and keeps things loose with his impressions of the team’s roster. He can go out drinking with the guys after games, set up dinner plans on road trips and lead the card games on the team plane. Then, the Yankees can hire an actual game manager in the dugout because after 227 major league games and another two months of spring training games, it’s clear Boone can’t handle in-game strategy and management. Both the lineup card and the bullpen decisions on Wednesday led to a second straight loss to the Blue Jays who had lost six in a row and nine of their last 10 coming into this series.

If it’s the front office who owns the lineup card, we have a much bigger problem. The Yankees are driven by analytics and if it’s the analytics department recommending Gardner batting first or third or ahead of Urshela or playing against a left-handed starter while Clint Frazier sits on the bench, or thinking Morales should continue to take up a 25-man roster spot and bat fourth when he plays or continue to return players just off the injured list into the top of the order as if they just didn’t miss significant time, then the Yankees need new analytics guys. Any person, stat or formula suggesting the way the Yankees have constructed their lineup outside of the games in which the lineup was nearly all Replacement Yankees can’t be trusted. The Yankees can’t have someone who thinks these lineup choices put the team in the best position to succeed also determining which players the Yankees should target through free agency. Maybe that’s why the Yankees passed on Patrick Corbin for J.A. Happ and why Dallas Keuchel continues to be a free agent, while Yankees starters have accumulated 20 quality starts in 60 games. Maybe it was the stat guys telling Boone to never bat Judge, Sanchez and Stanton back-to-back-to-back outside of Opening Day in Toronto last season. Maybe it was the analytics team who told Boone to go to A.J. Cole in big spots as often as Boone did last season or to let Luis Severino load the bases with no outs in the fourth inning of Game 3 of the ALDS when he had nothing left and then to bring in Lance Lynn in relief of Severino or to allow CC Sabathia to go through the entire Red Sox’ lineup a second time in Game 4 because Boone liked the matchup of Sabathia and the 9-hitter or to continue to bring Jonathan Holder into winnable games, only to have him lose those games.

There’s the idea the lineup and its order doesn’t matter and if a guy bats fifth or eighth isn’t as significant as it’s made out to be. If that’s true then why not have Austin Romine lead off when he plays and why not bat Kendrys Morales second when he plays? Bat Judge ninth upon his return and put Stanton one spot ahead of him at eighth. The Yankees would never do that because the lineup and the order the hitters are placed does matter. But to them, it only matters for some spots in the order and for some players on the team.

The unnecessary days off, like Hicks received on Wednesday night, and like Sanchez continues to receive each week, have an enormous impact on the lineup, and unfortunately are never going away. The Yankees believe they have some sort of special calendar or science to navigate through the regular season by giving players extra rest, and that it will help maintain performance throughout the season and prevent injuries. The Yankees haven’t won the division in what will be seven years this season. Since their last division title, they were destroyed by injuries in 2013, poorly built in 2014, blew a seven-game lead in two weeks in the second half of 2015, traded away all of their assets in 2016, had a surprising run to the ALCS before being unable to hit breaking balls in 2017 and played just-above-.500 baseball for most of the second half and nearly blew their first wild-card lead before being embarrassed in the ALDS in 2018. In which of those seasons did the Yankees manage to either sustain their level of performance for the entire season or avoid injuries? At some point this season, Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton, Miguel Andujar, Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge and Clint Frazier have all been on the injured list and Andujar was lost for the season. That’s not including the non-regular position players who have also gone on the injured list along with 60 percent of the team’s rotation and their best reliever. Injuries can’t be prevented or avoided. The Yankees haven’t proven they can’t sustain performance through an entire season with extra days off and if they think they can prevent injuries after what’s gone on this season, well then that’s a bigger joke than Luis Cessa continuing to be a Yankee because he’s out of options and the Yankees are scared he will magically figure it out with another organization.

As for the bullpen management, there seems to be no logic or reasoning behind most of the in-game decisions. Holder continues to pitch in any and all situations, whether the game is tied, the Yankees are losing or barely holding on to a lead. He comes in in the fifth inning, the eighth inning, extra innings and every inning in between. He seems to be immune to days off, while Adam Ottavino, Tommy Kahnle, Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman have to have days off between outings, and he seems to be the only non-closer who Boone asks to get three outs instead of two. Let me put it simply: Holder isn’t good. That doesn’t mean he can’t have a place on the team, he just shouldn’t be pitching in high-leverage situations ever. If the Yankees are up big or down big early, put him in. If the Yankees have a minimal chance of a comeback, put him in. If the Yankees are up five runs in the ninth, sure put him in and try to end the game, just don’t be surprised if Chapman is forced to warm up and eventually come into the game. The same goes for Chad Green, who after a couple good outings has the Yankees treating him like it’s 2017, and April and May, which included him being so bad he was sent down, never happened. The same also goes for Cessa, who has no role on the team. He isn’t good enough to start, he’s not overpowering or trustworthy enough to be a back-end reliever and now he’s proven he’s not really a long-man either. It’s time to give another team a chance to figure out what Cessa’s “role” is. If the Yankees try to pass him through waivers and he gets claimed, so be it. Maybe another AL team will pick him up and the Yankees can get some of the runs back against him in a future matchup to make up for all the runs he has given up as a Yankee.

The Yankees are always worried about tomorrow with their bullpen, playing for a situation that may come up the following day, but most likely won’t. They threw away the series finale in Kansas City and were perfectly fine with letting Nestor Cortes lose that game, the same way they were fine if Cortes lost the series finale to the Rays a week earlier. When Cortes continued to put up zeros in Kansas City, they went to Holder, who quickly lost the game, erasing the improbable three-run ninth inning the Yankees put together to send the games to extras. They did this because they were worried about overusing the elite relievers and not having them available the following day. How many times over the years have we seen Chapman or Dellin Betances forced into games they have no business pitching in because they need the work after a week-long layoff due to lopsided scores? Put the team in the best position to succeed in the current situation and win the game at hand. Worry about tomorrow when you get there.

To some, this is me complaining about a team that’s 38-22, in first place and holding a one-game lead over the Rays and a seven-game lead over the Red Sox in the loss column. That’s not the case. This is me worried about the team not consistently being put in the best position to succeed and win the most games possible to avoid a fourth wild-card game in five years. In 2015, we saw what could happen in a one-game playoff if you’re matched up against the wrong starting pitcher. In 2017, we saw what happens when you are forced to overwork your bullpen to get to the ALDS and then they’re ineffective when needed in the best-of-5 and best-of-7 format. In 2018, we saw what happens when you have to to use your best starter in the wild-card game and he’s forced to make that additional start in the postseason and then isn’t available until the third game of the ALDS.

It’s hard enough to win the crapshoot that is the baseball postseason when your team is at full strength, completely healthy and your rotation is perfectly lined up. It’s nearly impossible to win when you’re forced to play one game to remain in the postseason and advance, burn your best starter in that game, use your elite relievers, have a day off and then go on the road for the first two games of a best-of-5 series against a well-rested team at home with their ace going. The difference between the Yankees winning the AL East and advancing to the division series without having to get through another stressful one-game playoff and going to that one-game playoff could very well come down to one game this season. The Yankees don’t seem worried about this scenario, but I am. 

Either the Yankees have a manager in so far over his head or they have an analytics team which needs to be reevaluated. Either way, it’s a problem. Yankees fans deserve to know who is really managing the team.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!

Since the day the Yankees traded Andrew Miller and received Clint Frazier in return, I have been fearful Frazier would get a full-time major league opportunity and realize his potential with a team other than the Yankees. Between the Yankees’ full roster and lineup, owed salary to established and veteran players, potential trades for starting pitching and Frazier’s own injuries, there has always seemed like too many obstacles in his way of becoming an everyday player for the Yankees.

This season, Frazier has once again been given a chance to prove his worth at the major league level and show off the “legendary bat speed” Brian Cashman has raved about since acquiring the outfielder. Due to injuries to Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, Frazier has been a regular in the lineup and outside of a quick trip to the injured list for a sprained ankle he initially played through and wanted to keep playing through (I commended him for not wanting to go on the injured list), Frazier has performed … at the plate. He’s hit 10 home runs in 41 games, a 40-home run pace over 162 games, and is batting .272/.319/.517. He’s single-handedly won games for the Yankees with his bat and nearly did so again on Tuesday night when his two-run home run in Toronto felt like it might be the difference until Masahiro Tanaka had what’s becoming a routine letdown and meltdown inning in the middle of each start. Offense isn’t the problem with Frazier and never has been. The defense is another story.

Early in the season, Frazier made some questionable dive attempts and looked uncomfortable playing left field in Houston. It was understandable for someone with less than a half season of major league experience to his name playing with the weird, quirky dimensions of MinuteMaid Park and the extremely close left-field wall, which feels like it’s on top of the infield. But over the last couple months, the Houston mishaps have proven to not be an anomaly, but the norm for Frazier, who frequently misreads, misjudges and misplays balls no matter which outfield corner he’s in. It’s unbelievable to think the Yankees trusted him to play center field for an entire game last season.

On Sunday Night Baseball, Frazier had the worst defensive game of his life, and it all unfolded in one inning against the Red Sox on national TV. Some have blamed Frazier for single-handedly losing the game, but I don’t, since the Yankees were already losing when his most egregious error happened, and he didn’t fail to catch any truly catchable balls, he just misplayed what were already hits. If you want to blame someone for the Red Sox’ 3-2 lead increasing to 8-2, blame Luis Cessa who was the one throwing batting practice.

The embarrassing seventh inning was only the second worst part of Frazier’s night. After the game, he decided to leave the Stadium without addressing his performance to the media. Again, he wasn’t the reason the Yankees lost the game, but in New York, if Reliever X gives up five runs in the ninth inning and then leaves the bases loads for Reliever Y, and Reliever Y comes in and throws one pitch, resulting in a walk-off grand slam, the media wants to talk to Reliever Y even if Reliever X was to blame for the loss. Because Frazier’s defensive mistakes were so obvious the media waited for him, while Cessa was able to get dressed and go unbothered, despite retiring only three of the nine batters he faced and giving up five earned runs as he continues to prove he has no place on this team.

Frazier could have stood in the clubhouse and talked about how he is working tirelessly before every game with Judge and Reggie Willits to become a better outfielder. He could talk about how he knows he has to be better and that his defense has been embarrassing and unacceptable. It would have taken a few minutes for him to act like a major leaguer and hold himself accountable and then that would be that. Some stories and blogs would be written about his defense and some angry sports radio callers would shout about wanting to trade him for a rental pitcher and that would be that. Instead, Frazier chose to leave the Stadium, let his teammates answers for his defensive lapses and turned a story about his poor defense into one about his character, personality and demeanor as a person, player and professional.

After the story got out that Frazier didn’t speak with the media, the off day for the Yankees only let the story build steam. On sports radio and social media, no one was talking about Cessa’s latest letdown, the Yankees failing to really destroy the Red Sox’ season with a sweep or the Yankees’ need of Dallas Keuchel. No one was even really talking about Frazier’s defense. The conversation was now about unmeasurable traits with people voicing their opinion on Frazier as if they know him as a person or have any sort of relationship with him other than watching him play baseball every night. According to the general public, the Yankees could either bench Frazier (which would give more at-bats to Brett Gardner, Cameron Maybin or Kendrys Morales) send Frazier down (which would do the same as benching him) or trade him for a rental starter (because you should always jettison a 24-year-old with middle-of-the-order potential for not speaking with the media, especially when his reputation and stock are an all-time low).

Frazier did make himself available to speak with the media before Tuesday night’s game, and I’m sure he was properly prepared by Cashman, Jason Zillo (Yankees Vice President of Communications and Media Relations) and Aaron Boone. But Cashman, Zillo and Boone wouldn’t be able to hold Frazier’s hand in front of the media, all they could was trust Frazier would apologize and put an end to the story. I’m sure Zillo wasn’t thrilled when Frazier opened his mouth.

“No, I don’t regret it,” Frazier said. “And to be fair, I don’t think I owe anyone an explanation, because it’s not a rule that I have to speak.”

Frazier could have stepped up and realized he will never win a war with the media or fans and apologized for not doing his part as a major leaguer, which is stated in Section 7 of the collectively bargained Major League Baseball Players Association’s media guidelines, which states, “It is very important to our game that ALL players are available to the media for reasonable periods and it is the player’s responsibility to cooperate.” He had a chance to make things right, and he did somewhat, but he also doubled down on his decision to skip out on addressing his Sunday night performance.

“The plays were what they were,” Frazier said. “I sucked.”

See how easy that was? Had Frazier opened with that or had just said that on Sunday night, this situation doesn’t exist.

“I lost us the game,” Frazier said. “Everyone knew what I did wrong, and that’s what it came down to.”

Look how easy this is! New York fans love when players admit they sucked and ruined a game! Though Frazier didn’t lose the game, as I said earlier. What he did during the game wasn’t wrong, it was unfortunate and unexpected. What he did after the game is what was wrong.

Frazier then made amends with his teammates for his Irish exit from the Stadium, which led to them answering questions on his behalf.

“I don’t want them to have to speak for me, but I also want to be on the same page as everyone in there,” Frazier said. “I should have been standing in front of my locker.”

Just as things were going well, and the media and some of its entitled members felt like the major leaguer had given a worthy apology, Frazier started to spiral out of control, going back on his word and taking things in an unexpected direction. Somewhere, Zillo was probably trying to have the power turned off in Rogers Centre in Toronto.

“Since I got traded over here, it’s been some stories that came out that shouldn’t have came out,” Frazier said. “And it’s difficult, because the way that I’m perceived by people is not how I think that I really am. I don’t feel like it’s been fair at times, and I don’t owe an apology for not talking.”

The Yankees go through media training during spring training and I have to think the first rule is to talk about the game, not yourself. It makes for cookie-cutter and cliché answers for the media and fans, but the Yankees don’t give a crap how it sounds as long as they don’t have an unnecessary PR nightmare to deal with. Frazier was about to give them that nightmare, using the perception of him as a player, stories written about him by the media and comments made by broadcasters as some sort of excuse for his disappearing act on Sunday. He had quickly taken back his apology, using his treatment since becoming a Yankee as the reason why.

Zillo was either drinking scotch directly from the bottle at this point or an ambulance was being called to assist him. Frazier had gone off the handle, talking about things in no way related to him playing right field like he’s drunk and then not talking about it immediately after the game.

“I know I don’t fit the mold of what some of the past and current Yankees are like, and that may be why it’s a little harder for me to navigate every day, and I’m trying to be myself here,” Frazier said. “And sometimes it feels like people have an issue with me just being myself.”

Can someone give me an update on the health status of Zillo? Frazier could have stopped at saying he sucked and his teammates shouldn’t have to answer for him. But he kept going and going and going and now his media absence had become about him possibly being forced to cut his hair like every other Yankee since George Steinbrenner purchased the team in 1973 or potentially because he has red hair, which not many people, let alone Yankees have. Either that or he was upset the right-field bleachers turned on him on Sunday night after his outfield play as if he’s the first Yankee to ever be ridiculed by the home crowd for a poor performance?

“It’s been difficult, it’s been hard,” Frazier said. “My entire life, I’ve always kind of been different and struggled to hit in because people perceive me a certain way. It was, whenever I was younger, the only thing that I felt like kept me relevant was baseball.”

Seriously, someone give me an update on Zillo! Frazier was going even deeper. All anyone wanted was for Frazier to say what he said at the beginning and that was enough. Somehow him playing the outfield poorly and not answering questions about it turned into a conversation about him not fitting in his whole life. All I want from Frazier is to not dive for uncatchable balls and to prevent balls that hit the outfield grass from rolling to the wall. That’s all I want. Not this mess.

This is officially a mess, and unfortunately, it’s not going anywhere. During Tuesday’s game on social media, baseball reporters from all markets were chiming in to call out Frazier for not showing up on Sunday and then for giving a half-hearted apology and taking that heart-hearted apology back. One ESPN reporter went so far as to tweet a picture of Frazier approaching the dugout after his two-run home run, saying his teammates looked like they weren’t celebrating with him. I know where this is going. Frazier’s defense will now be watched extra carefully and any miscue will be magnified, the way Gary Sanchez’s passed balls and hustle are, and Frazier’s relationships in the clubhouse will be speculated upon after he let his teammates answer for him.

Frazier’s bat is too good and valuable to give up on because of his defense and because he went out the back door of the clubhouse one night. The Yankees need his bat and they need him to improve defensively because Gardner’s abilities are no longer those of an everyday player, and next year the Yankees are going to need to fill the void left by Gardner. (Unless they decide to once again re-sign him to a one-year deal in the first minute of free agency.) Frazier has the chance to earn an everyday spot on the Yankees for the rest of this season and future seasons and only his play should determine that. Hopefully, only his play will determine that.

I believe in Frazier and want to see him succeed as a Yankee the way I always have, though his defense will need to improve for that to happen. For now, his bat can do the talking for him on the field, as long as his mouth is there when needed to do it off the field.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!

The Yankees are in first place in the AL East. They got there because of the performance of their elite relievers, MVP-like seasons from Gary Sanchez and DJ LeMahieu and timely hitting from the long list of Replacement Yankees which have appeared in games. The starting pitching has played a very limited role in the team’s success.

The Yankees have played 58 games or 36 percent of their season. In those 58 games, they have received only 20 “quality starts” (at least six innings pitched and three earned runs or less) and their starting pitcher has pitched at least six innings only 22 times. That’s a problem. A huge problem.

The Yankees’ formula for winning is to get five innings from their starter and let the best bullpen in baseball get the final 12 outs of the game. This formula prevents the opposition from seeing the Yankees’ starter for a third time and welcomes them with fastballs around triple digits from every reliever along with the ridiculous slider of Aroldis Chapman, the unhittable curveball of Dellin Betances, the never-ending arsenal of sliders from Adam Ottavino, the impossible-to-get-under sinker of Zack Britton and the disappearing changeup of Tommy Kahnle. But this is really the Yankees’ formula for winning in the postseason. It can’t be used day in and day out in the regular season or it won’t work when it’s needed most.

The Yankees’ starting pitching length problem doesn’t just mean more appearances from the untrustworthy arms of Chad Green, Jonathan Holder, Luis Cessa, Nestor Cortes, David Hale and whichever future average arms the Yankees call up throughout the season. It means more appearances from Kahnle, Britton, Ottavino, eventually Betances and Chapman. It means the formula will be less effective in the postseason.

Even if the Yankees were getting substantial length from their starters, they would still need Keuchel between the lingering injuries, injury histories and workloads of their rotation.

Masahiro Tanaka’s career starts per season: 20, 24, 31, 30 and 27. Thankfully, the 2014 elbow tear, which led to every member of the New York media suddenly holding a medical degree and private orthopedic surgery practice telling Tanaka to get surgery, hasn’t really emerged since. But even without the presence of the elbow tear, which has felt like a dark cloud following the Yankees for almost five years, Tanaka always eventually needs an extra day of rest or ends up on the injured list for some a non-elbow related injury.

James Paxton has never made more than 28 starts and has never thrown more than 160 1/3 innings in a season. Those two career highs both came last year. So not only does Paxton have a long history of various injuries and significant disabled list and injured list time, he’s coming off the largest workload of his career. He’s already been on the injured list once in two months as a Yankee for a knee injury, an injury he claims is still present and one he plans on pitching through.

Domingo German, a former Tommy John recipient who missed all of 2015, has thrown 64 innings this season. Since his surgery, he threw 49 2/3 innings in the minors in 2016, 123 2/3 innings between the majors and minors in 2017 and 94 innings last season between the majors and minors. The Yankees believe they have innings limits and pitching injury prevention down to a science, which is comical given the long list of injuries this season, and there is a secret number of innings they are going to allow German to throw this season. He’s already 30 innings away from his total across all levels last season and maybe his last two starts were just bad outings or maybe they were an indication he’s hitting a wall due to his early-season total. Either way, German isn’t going to be a full-season member of the rotation whether he’s healthy or not.

J.A. Happ is healthy, he’s just been inconsistent and easily the worst member of the rotation. He’s actually been good against every team that’s not the last-place, historically-bad Orioles, who he’s somehow allowed 15 earned runs against in 17 2/3 innings over four starts. But even in his non-Orioles starts, Happ has only reached six innings pitched in half of them. The 36-year-old has pitched like a 36-year-old this season, and while health has never been a concern with him, performance now is.

CC Sabathia managed to achiee a quality start against the Red Sox on Sunday Night Baseball and every Yankees fans would sign up for six innings and three earned runs in every Sabathia start. The problem is getting six innings from him isn’t realistic. He’s reached six innings in two of nine starts this season and did so in only 11 of 29 starts last season. Aside from the five-and-fly outings from Sabathia, his ongoing knee issue isn’t magically going away in his final season, and it’s already forced him to the injured list once this season and will again at least once within the next four months since his trips to the injured list are now planned.

Supposedly, Luis Severino has been pain free for a few weeks and is set to begin a throwing program. He will essentially need to be built back up as if it were the start of spring training leading up to the start of the season. Couple that with the fact Severino is the face and both immediate and long-term future of the rotation, who recently signed a four-year, $40 million extension, and the Yankees are going to take is extra slow with him. Severino jumped from 151 1/3 total innings in 2016 to 209 1/3 innings in 2017 and then another 198 1/3 innings in 2018. It’s not exactly a surprise he had a shoulder and subsequent lat injury in spring training. But if Severino started his throwing program today, you’re looking at a return sometime near the end of July. We’re at the point where one more setback will likely mean he won’t pitch for the Yankees this season. While it’s fun to think about how good the first-place Yankees will be when they get their ace back, we’re a long way from seeing him pitching for the Yankees this season.

With Jonathan Loaisiga injured, the Yankees’ plan for starts outside of these pitchers is to use an “opener” or a “bullpen game” to get by. That means some combination of Green, Cessa, Cortes and Hale. That’s no way to put yourself in the best position to win the division for the first time in seven years.

No, the Yankees won’t be getting the 2015 AL Cy Young version of Dallas Keuchel (20-8, 2.48 ERA) or the 2017 All-Star version (14-5, 2.90 ERA) if they sign the free-agent left-hander. All they need is the 2018 version (12-11, 3.74 ERA), and they might not even need that. They just need a reliable, experienced arm to take the ball every five days, which is something their depth lacks right now.

The Yankees didn’t want to spend the money to sign Patrick Corbin? Fine. (Well, not fine actually.) They didn’t want to spend the money to sign Bryce Harper or Manny Machado? Fine. They didn’t want to give out a long-term deal or lose their first-round draft pick to sign Keuchel? Fine. Well, now they don’t have to give Keuchel a long-term deal or lose their first-round draft pick to sign him.

All Keuchel will cost the Yankees is money. Just money. It’s something the Yankees make more of than any team in the league and something they used to use to their advantage. This is the first true season in the current window of opportunity to win a championship with these Yankees and they have a glaring weakness which can be resolved with cash right now. Within the next two months from now, they will no longer be able to fix it with only money and will have to further dismantle their farm system to solidify their starting pitching.

The 2017 Yankees refrained from trading for Justin Verlander because they were scared off by the money owed to him. So he went to the Astros and was the difference in the ALCS, beating the Yankees in Games 1 and 6 en route to winning the World Series.

The 2018 Yankees, coming off a season in which they came within one win of the World Series, decided to cut payroll by $50 million and wouldn’t pull the trigger on an offseason trade for Gerrit Cole. The Astros traded for Cole and wound up in the ALCS. The Red Sox and Dodgers went out and spent more money than any other team and wound up in the World Series.

If the Yankees aren’t willing to spend money in this situation, I don’t know when they ever will be. The players have done their part, climbing to the top of the AL East despite all the injuries and now it’s up to the front office to reward them for their performance by signing Keuchel.

If the Yankees end up losing the division to the Rays and end up in the wild-card game for the fourth time in five seasons, drastically decreasing their chances to advance to the ALDS and eventually the World Series, because of starting pitching, they will forever regret the decision to not use their wallet to resolve this issue the way I’m sure they regret not doing so the last two seasons.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!

Last August, the Yankees trailed the Red Sox by 5 1/2 games when they went to Boston for a four-game series. It was the Yankees’ last chance to put a dent into the deficit and they needed to win at least three out of four and cut their games back to 3 1/2 before the final 52 games of the season. Anything less than three out of four and it would be back to the one-game playoff for the second year in a row and third time in four years.

The Yankees were without Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez for the series, and J.A. Happ, who they had just traded for mainly because of his career and season success against the Red Sox, wouldn’t pitch over the weekend after getting sick with a rare illness. Despite the lack of Judge and Sanchez in the lineup, the Yankees opened the Thursday night game with three runs in the first and another in the second for an early 4-0 lead. But CC Sabathia didn’t have it and Aaron Boone waited too long to realize he didn’t have it and wasn’t going to find it. In relief of Sabathia, Jonathan Holder pooped his pants on the mound at Fenway Park as he faced seven batters and didn’t retire one of them. The Yankees lost 15-7 and trailed by 6 1/2 games.

The next day, Rick Porcello pitched a complete-game one-hitter. The Yankees lost 4-1 and trailed by 7 1/2 games.

The two losses in the first two games of the series essentially ended the Yankees’ chances at the division, but just for good measure, they were shut out for eight innings by former Yankee bust Nathan Eovaldi in the third game of the series in what would be another 4-1 loss. In the series finale on Sunday Night Baseball, the series and Yankees’ division chances hit rock bottom when Aroldis Chapman blew a three-run, ninth-inning lead with three walks and a single coupled with a Miguel Andujar error. The Yankees would lose in the 10th after Jonathan Holder gave up a single, wild pitch, intentional walk and game-winning single, all with two outs, essentially pooping his pants on the Fenway Park mound for the second time in roughly 72 hours. The Yankees lost 5-4, were swept in the four games and left Boston four games worse than they arrived, trailing by 9 1/2 games in the division with 52 to play.

The Yankees’ inability to win the division forced them to play one game to reach the ALDS, use Luis Severino in that one game, then go to Boston for the first two games of the ALDS and face a rested Red Sox team, which was able to coast for the last two months of the season, and a rested Chris Sale, as the Red Sox were able to line up their rotation for the Yankees. Had the Yankees won the division, maybe the Red Sox lose the one-game playoff to the A’s or maybe they have to fly across the country to Oakland for the one-game playoff and then fly back across the country to New York for the ALDS. Either as the first or second wild card, the Red Sox would have had to burn Sale in the one game and wouldn’t have been able to use him until Game 3 and then would have only been able to start him once in the five-game series. Unfortunately, none of this happened.

Maybe the 2018 Red Sox would have won the World Series whether or not the Yankees won the division and whether or not Aaron Boone managed Games 3 and 4 of the ALDS like he had been introduced to the game of baseball earlier that week. The Yankees had their chances to stay in the division race and win it, but they didn’t take care of business against awful opponents, which the Red Sox did, they didn’t show up with the season on the line in Boston, which the Red Sox did. That was the difference in 2018, not the injuries or the Red Sox being some sort of team of destiny.

This season has been different. The Yankees have used a replacement roster the entire season, haven’t had Luis Severino, Dellin Betances or Didi Gregorius for a single game, have had Giancarlo Stanton for three games, haven’t had Aaron Judge since Easter weekend, didn’t have Aaron Hicks for the first six weeks of the season, lost Miguel Andujar to season-ending surgery and have watched Gary Sanchez, Clint Frazier, James Paxton and now CC Sabathia all land on the injured list at some point. The Yankees’ starters have gotten hurt, their backups have gotten hurt and their backups’ backups have gotten hurt. Yet somehow, they are in first place in the AL East with a 36-19 record and plus-74 run differential. They have two more wins than the Rays, but are tied with the Rays in the loss column, and they lead the Red Sox by eight in the loss column.

The 2019 Yankees’ success has been built on their ability to rack up wins against teams under .500 (23-9) and play good enough against teams .500 or better (13-10). It’s the formula that led to their success in the ’90s and 2000s, and one they have been trying to get back to in recent years. It’s the same formula which led to the Red Sox’ division title last season.

The AL East is a three-team race this season. It would have been one last season too if there had been any games left as the 90-win Rays became unbeatable late in the season. This year, the Rays didn’t wait to put it all together, they started winning on Opening Day and haven’t stopped since. The last thing the Yankees want to be part of is a three-team race, in which one team is headed for the ALDS and the runner-up and possibly also second-runner up are headed to the one-game playoff. I’ve had enough of the one-game playoff over the last four seasons, and I don’t want the first season in this current championship window to have to go through one.

The goal is to win the division, and the easiest way to outlast the Rays and Red Sox is to first turn the three-team race into a two-team race. Force the weaker team into the wild-card picture and worry about scoreboard watching one opponent throughout the regular season. The Yankees’ and Rays’ hot starts combined with the Red Sox’ disastrous start have made it possible for the Yankees to turn the AL East race into a two-team race as early as this weekend. The Yankees can do to the Red Sox what the Red Sox did to them in a four-game series last year, just much earlier in the season.

The Yankees’ eight-game lead over the Red Sox in the loss column through 55 games is shocking. I never expected the 2019 Red Sox to win the way the 2018 Red Sox did since I never expected the 2018 Red Sox to win the way they did, but I certainly didn’t see them battling to stay above .500 after two months. The Yankees have a chance to end the Red Sox’ division chances over the next four days.

As of now, the Yankees are on pace to win 106 games and they are getting closer to getting Gregorius, Judge and Stanton back in the lineup, Betances in the bullpen and Severino in the rotation. For as good as they have been, they are about to get deeper and better. The Red Sox are on pace to win 84 games, which won’t last, but even if it did, you can’t fault them. They won the World Series last year. They earned the right to have a down year.

If the Yankees played one-game-over-.500 baseball for the rest of the season (54-53), they would finish with 90 wins. The Red Sox would have to go 61-45 just to tie them in that scenario. The Red Sox would have to play .575 baseball for the rest of the season if the Yankees played as poorly as .505 baseball. Maybe the Replacement Yankees would have played .505 baseball or worse over 107 games. The Real Yankees, which are close to being a thing, aren’t going to.

If the Yankees were to win three out of four this weekend, those numbers become even more ridiculous. Then the Yankees could go 52-51 (.505) the rest of the way and the Red Sox would have to go 61-41 (.598) to tie them. If the Yankees sweep? They could go 52-51 (.505) and the Red Sox would have to go 63-39 (.618).

Even if the Yankees were to win two and lose to in the four-game series, they wouldn’t lose any ground to the Red Sox, and four more games, and four more games each other, would be off the schedule. If the Yankees were to disappointingly lose three of four, or embarrassingly get swept, they would still have either a six- or four-game loss column lead.

The Yankees have built themselves a nice cushion to work with and an impressive loss column lead when it comes to the Red Sox. Now it’s time to extend that lead, end the Red Sox’ division chances and turn the focus for the remaining four months of the season to the team I have said for Yankees fans to be worried about all along: the Rays.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!